European Legal Studies Etudes Européennes Juridiques Conference The Division of Competences in the EU Legal Order a Post-Lisbon Assessment 1. Introduction: theme of the conference Reflecting the power bargain struck between the Member States and their Union, determining the limits of the authority of the EU as well as the limits of the authority of the Member States, the issue of competence division is of fundamental, even existential, importance. It defines the nature of the EU as a polity, as well as the identity of the Member States. Or so the story goes. Over six years since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, which introduced most of the changes proposed by the failed Constitutional Treaty, bringing an end to the decade-long debate on the Future of Europe, it is high time to take stock of whether the reforms that were adopted to make the Union s system of division of competences between the EU Member States clearer, more coherent, and better at containing European integration, have been successful. In other words, has the competence problem finally been solved? If the conclusion is (as it is) that this is not the case, it is even higher time to reflect on the causes and consequences of these failures and on alternative approaches to achieve the aims of paramount importance that the system of competence division purports to pursue, namely to respect national identity, subsidiarity and selfdetermination. Maybe this will entail a fundamental reconsideration of the role that competences have to play in this regard. Are competences perhaps a red herring, distracting jurists and others from the real (power) issues in play? To be meaningful, these issues are to be examined not only in a legalistic way, but against the complex contemporary background of increasing Euroscepticism (with a possible exit from the EU by the UK) and secessionism within Member States (UK, Belgium, Spain), an unstable Euro-zone governed by controversial austerity measures and, more recently, an unprecedented influx of refugees and migrants putting both European and global solidarity to the test. What do (the responses to) these seemingly separate developments tell us about the state of the Union and its democratic governance? And what it the role of competence division in that context?
2. Aims of the conference The aim of the 1.5 day conference is to bring together a mix of scholars and practitioners, to reflect and exchange views on the issues as set out above. The approach will be to challenge pre-existing notions and ideas about this area of law, in order to move the debate out of its impasse. There should be a healthy combination of constitutional and substantive questions, combining a theoretical critique with pragmatic proposals for the future, tentative as they may be. The contributions will be published in an edited volume, with a publisher to be determined, early 2017. 3. Date of the conference Wednesday 20 April 2016 (all-day) and Thursday 21 April 2016 (morning)
European Legal Studies Etudes Européennes Juridiques Conference Progamme The Division of Competences in the EU Legal Order a Post-Lisbon Assessment Day 1 (20/04/2016) Registration 09:45-10:15 Welcome address Jörg Monar, Rector, College of Europe 10:15-10:20 Opening speech Sacha Garben, Professor, European Legal Studies Department, College of Europe 10:20 10:30 First session Setting the scene: contemporary reflections on division of competences between the EU and the Member States Chaired by Inge Govaere, Director, European Legal Studies Department, College of Europe and Professor, Ghent University 10:30 12:30 The road from Rome to Lisbon how the current competence constellation came to be, and why Alan Dashwood, Professor Emeritus, City University London 10:30 10:50 Competences in contemporary Europe Brexit, the Eurocrisis and the immigration crisis Deirdre Curtin, Professor, European University Institute 10:50 11:10 Federalism and the division of competences - perspectives from the US, DE and the EU Robert Schütze, Professor Durham University 11:10 11:30 Panel-lead discussion Freddy Drexler, Jurisconsult, European Parliament Roman Herzog, former President of the German Constitutional Court Hubert Legal, Director-General, Legal Adviser to the Council Luis Romero Requena, Director-General, Legal Service European Commission 11:30 12:30 Sandwich Lunch 12:30 13:30
Second session Complementary and shared EU competences: only a limited role for the EU? Chaired by Elise Muir, Associate Professor, Maastricht University 13:30 15:30 Coffee break 15:30 16:00 Member State competences is there such a thing? Bruno de Witte, Professor, European University Institute 13:30 13:50 The peculiar competence structure of social policy Claire Kilpatrick, Professor, European University Institute 13:50 14:10 The internal market as the ultimate EU competence Gareth Davies, Professor, University of Amsterdam 14:10 14:30 Panel-led discussion Kieran Bradley, Judge, European Court of Justice, Civil Service Tribunal Jean-Paul Jacqué, Former Director, Legal Service of the Council of the EU Maria-José Martinez, Director, Legal Service of the European Parliament Síofra O'Leary, Judge, European Court of Human Rights Ben Smulders, Head of Cabinet, Vice-President Timmermans 14:30 15:30 Third session Exclusive EU competences: an uncontested role for Europe? Chaired by Sacha Garben, Professor, European Legal Studies Department, College of Europe 16:00 18:00 EMU and EU competences Michael Waibel, Lecturer, University of Cambridge 16:00 16:20 EU competences the external dimension Marise Cremona, Professor, European University Institute 16:20 16:40 The EU s exclusive competence in competition law Pablo Ibáñez Colomo, Professor, London School of Economics 16:40 17:00 Panel-lead discussion Jenö Czuczai, Legal Adviser, Legal Service of the Council of the EU Jonathan Faull, Director-General, European Commission UK Task Force Damien Gerard, Director, Global Competition Law Center Allan Rosas, Judge, European Court of Justice 17:00 18:00 Dinner 19:00 22:00
Day 2 (21/04/2016) Fourth session Solving the competence problem: towards a new approach to containing EU integration Chaired by Takis Tridimas, Director, King s College London 09:30 13:00 The legal and practical inconsistencies in the current competence system Udo di Fabio, Professor, Bonn University 09:30 09:50 Integration through soft law no competence needed Mark Dawson, Professor, Hertie School of Governance 09:50 10:10 Politicisation, democracy and the competence question Fritz Scharpf, Emeritus Director, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies 10:10 10:30 Coffee break 10:30 10:50 The inherent difficulty in containing EU integration through competence division Gráinne de Búrca, Professor, New York University School of Law 10:50 11:10 A fundamental overhaul of the current competence arrangement Sacha Garben, Professor, European Legal Studies Department, College of Europe 11:10 11:30 Final panel-led discussion Freddy Drexler, Jurisconsult, European Parliament Francis Jacobs, former Advocate-General at the European Court of Justice Hubert Legal, Director-General, Legal Adviser to the Council Päivi Leino-Sandberg, Adjunct Professor of EU Law University of Helsinki Luis Romero Requena, Director-General, Legal Service European Commission 11:30 13:00 Sandwich Lunch 13:00 14:00 END